The Great North Road (Part 1)

 

After our fun (and weird) couple of days in Subic, Nikki and I continued northwards toward our ultimate destination of Ilocos Norte. This was mostly a birding trip, and there were two main goals: first, to see some of the uncommon Luzon endemics that I was still missing, including visiting well-known national parks and some up-til-then unbirded potential new sites. The second goal was to look for migratory birds and (ideally) vagrants, which tend to concentrate in the northern part of the Philippines that's closest to Taiwan and the Asian mainland. The latter had already gotten off to a good start with our Black-winged Cuckooshrike in Subic, but I was hoping for even more interesting migrants to pad my Philippines list.

The initial plan had been to stop at the famous Candaba Wetlands on the way up to Subic to look for ducks and other rare migrants, as well as some birds I was annoyingly still missing from my Philippines list like Eastern Marsh Harrier and birds I hadn't seen in years like Philippine Swamphen. Unfortunately, our late start out of Manila meant that we didn't have time to stop by there, and it was way out of the way for us as we continued heading north. Browsing through eBird I instead found the Canarem Lake Bird Sanctuary in the province of Tarlac, which happened to be conveniently located near the expressway and along our way north. 

Figuring out access proved to be a little trickier than expected, as it turns out that part of the sanctuary is on private lands and it's necessary to coordinate with local birders or the local government. Ferdz, one of the local birders in Tarlac, was kind enough to connect me with someone from the local government unit, who in turn connected me with Vince from the DENR who would accompany us to the site. One thing I appreciate about the birding community in the Philippines is that generally everyone is happy to help everyone else, while often local governments are very enthusiastic about having birders visit and facilitate their visits. We're far from my dream of publicly accessible wildlife refuges with boardwalks and hunting regulations, but for now I'm happy to have the local DENR and tourism office encouraging birding however they can and making things easy for visiting birders. 

We departed from Subic very early the morning of December 3 and took the expressway eastwards then northwards before exiting in the town of Victoria. We met Vince at the LGU office then proceeded to the bird sanctuary. Canarem "lake" is actually a series of ponds next to a farming area, I think former fishponds that have since become overgrown enough to provide sanctuary to huge numbers of ducks, both resident and migratory. The LGU has done a great job of preventing hunting in the area, and has plans to purchase some of the surrounding area to strengthen protections which seems like a great idea for me; overall it was a great birding experience.

The paths of the Canarem Bird Sanctuary

The grass on the sides of the ponds was mostly too overgrown to see inside (which I'm sure is why the ducks like them so much), so most of our views of ducks were as they flew over, flushed by a raptor or some loud noise. This happened quiet often, as they're apparently very excitable, so I got to practice my DIF (duck in flight) skills. The largest numbers were of resident Wandering Whistling Ducks and Philippine Ducks, but there were good numbers of migratory birds as well, including Garganey, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, and Eurasian Teal, the latter of which was a new Philippines bird for me. In the ponds I had a quick glimpse of a Philippine Swamphen, along with lots of Eurasian Coots and Common Moorhens, and a few cute Little Grebes. The grass was full of Scaly-breasted Munias, and I heard the call of Siberian Rubythroat and Oriental Skylark, though I didn't see them well.

The assorted ducks of Canarem- Wandering Whistling Duck, Garganey, and Northern Pintail

Wandering Whistling Ducks

Northern Shovelers look even goofier from below

Northern Pintail

Eurasian Teal

Little Grebe

Scaly-breasted Munia

We headed to the other side of the sanctuary where there was an observation tower, although the ponds near the tower were dry and there weren't many birds. I did see a Buff-banded Rail running across the trail, which is always nice to see. Back at the car there were a few beautiful Blue-tailed Bee-eaters near the road. 

After Canarem we got back on the expressway and drove north until it ended at the border between Pangasinan and La Union provinces. As soon as we left the expressway the drive became typical of road travel in the Philippines; an interminable slog on bad-quality roads choked by slow-moving trucks and tricycles, dodging aggressive SUV drivers all the while. The west coast of Luzon would be the perfect place to put a train or other good mass transit system, but this is the Philippines so we can't have nice things like that, instead getting more and more car-focused infrastructure that exports Manila's mess to the provinces and makes towns everywhere just a little bit less pleasant to drive in. I suppose we were part of the problem since we were driving a rental car, and that's one of the downsides of birding: it almost exclusively happens in spots that are inaccessible without your own vehicle. 

We stopped for lunch in San Fernando, La Union, a town that used to be a sleepy hangout spot for surfers and hippies but has now become a traffic-snarled nightmare thanks to the pandemic and the new expressway making travel easier. It still has good sandwiches though, so there's that. North of La Union we entered Ilocos Sur province, our first new province of the trip. The landscape changed as we drove northward, from the perfectly flat marshlands and rice paddies of the Central Luzon plain to the dry scrub of the west coast, with the rugged foothills of the Luzon Cordillera looming at our right at all times. The Cordillera forms a barrier that stops the prevailing easterly winds and monsoon rains that they carry from reaching the northwestern coast of Luzon, leaving it as the driest part of the Philippines. It's a unique climate different from anywhere else in the country, particularly in the wintertime when the northeast monsoon is drenching the rest of the island. We stopped briefly along the coast in Ilocos Sur to enjoy the view of the highway winding across the sheer cliffs, and also so I could do an eBird list to fill in another province in my map. We ended up with such mega birds as Yellow-vented Bulbul and Pied Triller before we had to continue northwards once more.

The coast of Ilocos Sur

Just before sunset we stopped in the city of Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur. Vigan has two claims to fame: first, it's home to some of the best longganisa (sausages) in the Philippines. Second, it's essentially the only city in the Philippines where the town center has retained its old Filipino-Spanish architecture from the colonial period. Old towns like this are essentially absent from the Philippines despite the 330 years it spent as a Spanish colony, mainly because most of the historical architecture was carpet-bombed by American and Japanese forces during World War II (apparently American bombing campaigns would specifically target old Spanish houses, as they were where Japanese officers were generally quartered). Thankfully Vigan was spared most of the bombing, and it now retains some really beautiful old architecture in the bahay na bato style- a mix of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese influences. We spent a while walking around the old town and enjoying the cool buildings, and then had an empanada as a late snack- one of the typical foods of the Ilocos region.

From Vigan it was another 2-hour drive in the dark up to our hotel in Laoag City, the capital of Ilocos Norte province. Ilocos Norte is the farthest northwest province of Luzon, and is known for its unique geography, with its unusually dry environment, long, scenic coastline, and wind farms. It's also the center of Ilocano culture and the ancestral home of the Marcos family, the current and former rulers of the Philippines. They're quite proud of both those things, with lots of museums and monuments to the Marcos family everywhere you look. I should probably avoid providing my uncensored opinion of the Philippine politics, so suffice it to say my opinion of the Marcoses is [redacted]. The landscape of the area is beautiful however, and Ilocano food is one of my favorite of the local cuisines of the Philippines.

We were staying at the Fort Ilocandia Hotel, a resort located on the beach in an area of rolling sandy hills that reminded be a bit of Cape Cod or the barrier islands of the Atlantic coast of the US. It's close to the "Malacañang of the North", the home of former [redacted] of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, and the hotel is full of pictures of visiting foreign dignitaries and of various members of the Marcos family there to conduct diplomacy, business, and [redacted]. Notably it's also a popular destination for Chinese and Taiwanese tourists for its beach, golfing, and gambling operations. These days it feels a bit dark and run down, but the location is fantastic, particularly for birding. 

Our first birding destination wasn't Fort Ilocandia however, or even Laoag City. As we were going to be working from Laoag in the coming week I figured we could save the nearby locations for days when we had to be at work starting mid-morning. Instead, we were visiting a location I had found while browsing through satellite maps: a newly-constructed road running eastwards from Ilocos Norte into the province of Apayao over the edge of the Cordillera, with a point tantalizingly labeled as "BLAZING MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS" on Google Maps. I could find little other information on it online, besides a few videos from mountain bikers suggesting the road was drivable and that there was at least a little bit of forest left on it, but exploring un-birded locations is pretty much my favorite kind of birding, so I decided to give it a try. I have only spent a little bit of time at high elevation in Luzon so there were a few endemic birds I was missing, and many more that I still needed pictures or decent views of.

To Nikki's great chagrin, we left our hotel at 4:30 in the morning and began the drive east to the town of Solsona, on the Ilocos side of the pass. At the foot of the mountains we were stopped at a checkpoint by a soldier, who informed us that we needed to have a permit to drive up the road. Thankfully the permit was very easy to get at the Solsona government office 15 minutes back down the road, and the office was surprisingly open even at 5:30 in the morning. Permit in hand, we continued the way up. The road quickly became narrow and winding as it entered the northwesternmost part of the Luzon Cordillera, rising up precipitously from the coastal plane. As the sun rose, we were greeted with a spectacular landscape of dry, pine-covered mountains that got steadily higher and more rugged as we drove eastwards.

The Solsona-Apayao Road

Based on my reviews of satellite images, the best birding area seemed like the eastern part of the road as it crested the pass and began descending into Apayao. Unfortunately, as we headed eastwards, two obstacles presented themselves: first, the road got noticeably dodgier, with the obvious remnants of recent landslides and a particularly terrifying segment where a landslide was clearly undercutting the road, forcing me to drive on pavement that seemed to be hanging over empty space. The second was that as soon as we crested the pass, the weather instantly turned from sunny and pleasant to blowing wind and fog. While I was academically aware of what the rainshadow effect meant for Ilocos, this was a particularly dramatic example of one: the monsoon winds drop all their rain on the eastern slope as a result of orographic lift, and then stopped at the Apayao-Ilocos border as if they'd hit a wall. The immediate difference in weather and habitat was like entering a portal into a different world: dry, sunny pine forests on the west, and wet, windy cloud forest draped in epiphytes on the east. 

The monsoon winds stopping at the ridge: orographic lift and rainshadow effect in action!

While the contrast was visually striking and climatologically fascinating, it did mean that my hopes for birding on the Apayao side were dashed. Instead, we drove back across the scariest bit of road and stopped at a sheltered corner that seemed to be a popular place for bikers. The view was fantastic, looking more like somewhere in the Rocky Mountains than the Philippines, but the birds were few and far between, at least at first; some Philippine Bulbuls, a Blue Rock Thrush, and a little group of Elegant Tits but little else, particularly not the high-elevation birds I was hoping for. 

The gorgeous pine forests of Ilocos Norte

Just as I was about to despair of doing any decent birding at all, we struck gold: a chipping noise across the road alerted us to a flock of Red Crossbills passing over! This was a species I'd dipped on several times in the Philippines and was very high on my list of wanted birds for the country. For one thing crossbills are amazing in general, and for another it's a bit mind-boggling to have a bird that's resident of both the Philippines and Michigan- one of maybe 5 or 6 birds that are like that, and by far the most surprising one. 

Red Crossbill!

I decided to walk along the road nearby to a bit of nice forest to see if I could spot any other good high-altitude birds. I flushed up a few Olive-backed Pipits as I was walking, a bird I'd only seen once before in the Philippines but that appears to be a fairly common migrant up north. Further down I heard the warbling song of a Philippine Bush Warbler and after quite a bit of effort was able to get good looks at a couple birds. Bush warblers are some of my favorite birds- despite being incredibly drab and hard to see, they're also full of personality and very rewarding to get good looks at. Continuing along the road I ran into a nice mixed flock with Negros Leaf Warblers, Turquoise Flycatchers, Warbling White-eyes, and some very friendly Chestnut-faced Babblers. Nikki joined up with me there and we had great looks at some more Red Crossbills and the spectacular scenery.

Olive-backed Pipit

Philippine Bush Warbler- interestingly the birds in this area are much darker, colder brown than the rufous-brown birds elsewhere in the Cordillera

Chestnut-faced Babbler

Turquoise Flycatcher- the Luzon birds have a black mask that's lacking in the birds in the Visayas and Mindanao

Red Crossbill

Nepenthes alata, a cool endemic pitcher plant

Xanthetis luzonica, an endemic tiger moth

Philippine Five-Ring

Nikki and I with the spectacular landscapes of the Cordillera- perhaps the most visually stunning place I've ever birded aside from the Lake Holon crater

By mid-morning, it seemed that the blowing wind had subsided a bit, so we decided to drive back up the road a little to the border with Apayao (I later realized this wasn't the actual border, which was a little higher, but oh well), just so we could say we'd been in a different province. It was still blowing wind with some fog and mist, but hospitable enough that I walked 500 meters or so further up the road, far enough to see that there was some good-looking forest further on. I didn't have time to explore it, so I started walking back, at the very least adding Grey Wagtail and Philippine Bulbul to my Apayao list. As I rounded a corner, I happened upon the second mega rarity bird of the trip: a gorgeous male Daurian Redstart that hopped up onto a guardrail before disappearing into the foliage. While the redstarts are regular further north in the Batanes, this was only the second record further south, and the first-ever Luzon record- a true mega bird. 

Daurian Redstart!

Some kind of gorgeous mountain flower (Coleus sp. I think)

The noticeably wetter forest further east

As we got back in the car, I noticed movement beside us, and put my binoculars up to find a gorgeous male Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, one of the best-looking flowerpeckers in the Philippines. I've seen them many times in Mindanao but the Luzon birds seem even more colorful, with bright-yellow underparts and a blood-red throat. As we drove down the winding mountain road, we stopped several times, first for a Mountain Shrike next to the road, a nice Luzon endemic I hadn't seen in years. That was joined by a Little Pied Flycatcher, another nice addition to my Ilocos Norte list, as well as a Blue-headed Fantail and one of many very vocal Arctic Warblers along the road. A bit further down we got out for a nice overlook with a view west toward Laoag, and later on once more for a bunch of Brown-headed Thrushes, a lifer for me, foraging along the road with Eyebrowed Thrush, Philippine Bulbul, and a couple of Whiskered Treeswifts.

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Mountain Shrike- someday I'll get decent pictures of it...

Female Little Pied Flycatcher

Arctic Warbler

Whiskered Treeswift

The view west toward Laoag and the West Philippine Sea

We arrived back at our hotel in the early afternoon, and had a quick lunch followed by a very long nap. That afternoon we decided to explore the grounds of the hotel a little bit, enjoying sunset on the beach. There were lots of birds around but nothing particularly interesting- lots of Long-tailed Shrikes and Eurasian Tree Sparrows, the latter of which I scanned endless without luck to try and find any buntings mixed in.

Long-tailed Shrike

Fisherman with the famous Laoag sand dunes in the background

The beach would be much more scenic without the ATV tracks...

There are worse hotel backdrops

The next day was Monday, so I only had time for a few hours of birding in Laoag. This was a shame as Laoag is home to some truly amazing migrant bird sites, despite the overall lack of good habitat around it. I had contacted Richard Ruiz, a Laoag-based birder, and he joined me for a morning of birding at some of his sites. Our main destination was the Gabu Norte fishponds located near the mouth of the Padsan River. We arrived at 6:30 AM, a half hour before they would apparently open for visitors, so we enjoyed the nice view of the river, with lots of Brahminy Kites, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, and ducks flying past, including Philippine Ducks and a few Northern Shovelers.

The Padsan River

To our chagrin, when we went to enter the fishponds we found out that they had changed owners in the past month, and the new owner didn't really want to allow birders access. That was bad news as it was one of the best migrant traps in the city, but we decided to explore some nearby anyway. Richard took me just a bit down the road to some open fields sandwiched between the fishponds and the sea. These proved to be chock-full of Eastern Yellow Wagtails and Paddyfield Pipits, which I scanned to no avail in hopes of finding a Red-throated Pipit or Richard's Pipit. I did spot a distant Yellow Bunting perched, a rare migrant that was a lifer for me. We were able to climb a small hill to peek into one of the fishponds, which held only a single Tufted Duck.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Paddyfield Pipit

Yellow Bunting

Richard showed me a small path leading out to the river mouth where we could look for gulls. The river mouth itself was a pretty grim spot, filled with trash, stray dogs, and various animal carcasses but it quickly became worth it. A flock of Black-headed Gulls flew over, followed soon after by a huge dark-backed gull; a Lesser Black-backed Gull! Any Larus gull is a mega rarity in the Philippines, and Lesser Black-backed (split as Heuglin's Gull under some taxonomies) is one of the rarer ones, with only a few confirmed records. I'll be the first to admit I know bupkis about Old World gulls, but the ID seems fairly clear to me, though it's still under review by the Rarities Committee. If confirmed it will be perhaps the fourth or fifth record for the Philippines, the rarest overall sighting of the trip!

Black-headed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull (aka Heuglin's Gull)!

I had to return to the hotel to start work so I dropped Richard off, although he was kind enough to point me to some of his other favorite birding spots for future visits. Later that afternoon I went out to do a little exploring in the area around the hotel and came away with Eurasian Wigeon and Common Kestrel by a small pool, and good looks at a Long-tailed Shrike elsewhere.

Long-tailed Shrike- rather uncommon in most of the Philippines, but very common in the dry habitat of Ilocos Norte.

The next morning, I decided to return to the Gabu Norte fields again, as I had the gut feeling there was more there to see. Unusually for me my gut feeling proved to be correct; almost immediately I got out of the car and started looking around I was greeted by two spectacular Black-faced Spoonbills! Any spoonbill is a vagrant in the Philippines (although Black-faced is the more common one), and it was a real treat to see two of them up close, foraging in a little puddle with their ridiculous beaks. As I was looking at the spoonbills, I heard a squeaking call overhead and looked up to see a European Starling flying overhead! Americans and Europeans reading this won't be particularly impressed, but this is actually a mega rarity in the Philippines, with only 10 or so previous records. As I was photographing the starling the Lesser Black-bacekd Gull from the previous day also flew by in the distance- not many places in the Philippines where one can see three different birds with fewer than 20 country records within 10 minutes of each other!

Black-faced Spoonbill!

European Starling

Lesser Black-backed Gull

I continued birding around in the fields, and climbed up to peer into a fishpond to see that unlike the previous day it was full of ducks- mostly Philippine Ducks but also Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, Tufted Ducks, Eurasian Teals, and a Gadwall, which was a new Philippines bird for me. Further on I had much better looks at Yellow Buntings, and in the fields I got great looks at a singing Oriental Skylark. Returning to the spoonbill puddle there were no spoonbills apparent, but I got much better looks at the European Starlings and had a flyover from a Common Kestrel, yet another Philippines lifer for me.

Yellow Bunting

Eurasian Skylark

Common Kestrel

It was awesome getting five Philippines lifers in one morning, three of which were rarities, but it was also a bit of a sad reminder of how disappointingly low the birder population of the Philippines is, particularly outside of Manila. I'm sure if there were even five or six serious birders in Ilocos Norte then birds like Black-faced Spoonbill, European Starling, or several different species of duck or gull would be considered to be uncommon migrants rather than the mega vagrants they're considered today. The Philippines country list would probably have a solid 30-40 more species on it as well. I loved my visit and it's great being the finder of rare birds, but in a properly-birded country some random schmuck like me wouldn't be able to just wander into a spot and get this many unusual records.

Late in the afternoon we stopped by Lake Paoay, another famous migratory bird spot known for having lots of migratory ducks and regular sightings of Great Cormorant. While the lake was beautiful, there was a disappointing dearth of duck diversity, with only a single raft of Tufted Ducks very, very far out into the lake. After sunset we headed south to the town of Paoay to enjoy its beautiful cathedral and some surprisingly good American barbecue.

Lake Paoay

The Paoay Church, a prime example of earthquake baroque architecture

December 8 was a holiday, so we decided to continue even further north, to the Calbario-Patapat Natural Park at the tip of Ilocos Norte. Visiting there in December, the peak of the monsoon season, was a risky bet but I wasn't sure when I'd be this far north again so I figured I'd give it a try. We had to leave in the evening of the 7th as we both had work during the day, so we had to do most of the drive north of Laoag in the dark, getting into our hotel near the famous Pagudpud beach on a cold, blustery night. The blowing wind and driving rain weren't exactly promising for the next day, but we'd come that far and it wouldn't be a proper vacation without us getting caught in the rain, so we proceeded. 

We left the hotel before sunrise, driving up around the far northwestern tip of Luzon and along the spectacular Patapat Viaduct before turning inland. The birding area was a nice paved road running through a heavily forested valley to the town of Adams. Adams made birding news for unfortunate reasons a while back when the son of a local politician was photographed showing off a dead Rufous Hornbill he had shot. The photo was shared by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines and shamed the DENR into taking action, leading to charges against the hunter but unfortunately also making birdwatchers blacklisted in the town. Things have apparently cooled down since then and the area is now quite accessible for birding, albeit plagued by landslides and requiring a very long drive from the nearest airport.

As soon as we got to the birding site a torrential downpour started, and I had to sit huddled in the car for 20 minutes before setting out in the gloomy morning light. Things started slow and never got much better; lots of Philippine Bulbuls flying overhead, more distant calling Philippine Fairy Bluebirds, and a couple of Grey-throated Sunbirds were all I got at first. In a thicker area of forest I had a female Philippine Trogon make a brief appearance, and then later on had a very friendly family of Luzon Flamebacks. Unfortunately I never came across my main targets for the site: Cordillera Ground Warbler, Golden-crowned Babbler, and Blue-breasted Blue Flycatcher. The latter two are members of mixed flocks, but despite hours of searching and some speculative playback I never came across a single mixed flock the entire morning. The ground warbler I'm sure was around, but I was once again handicapped by my premature hearing loss; unless one is singing into a megaphone held directly against my ear, their call is so high-pitched that I simply can't hear the damn things. 

Philippine Trogon

Luzon Flameback

Grey Wagtail

Jamides suidas

The road through the national park

We decided to head further uphill, which was a beautiful drive through misty-primeval-looking jungle with huge trees. Despite the amazing habitat the birds were still few and far between; I have to admit that I still don't understand why some patches of forest can be full of birds while other, seemingly identical areas are dead quiet practically all the time, but it can be quite frustrating, especially when in a new place with very little birding info. We added very little except a Buzzing Flowerpecker, so we headed back downhill to the forest edge. This proved to be a good idea, as the area we stopped at was full of birds despite being much worse habitat: Ashy Minivets and Rufous-crowned Bee-eaters perching in a leafless tree, big flocks of Brown-headed Thrushes and Eyebrowed Thrushes, a surprise White's Thrush foraging in a fallow field, and very distantly Northern Rufous Hornbills and a cawing Sierra Madre Crow. The latter was the only lifer of the day, although not according to eBird; Sierra Madre Crow and Samar Crow are still considered conspecific with Slender-billed Crow under most taxonomies, despite being very different in size and vocalizations. I still don't have a satisfying view of either unfortunately. 

Buzzing Flowerpecker, by far the least exciting flowerpecker in the Philippines

White's Thrush

Rufous-crowned Bee-eater

Ashy Minivet

Some kind of beautiful damselfly (Risiocnemis sp.)

Appias maria

We finally gave up and headed downhill to have lunch at the excellent (but rather overpriced) Pannzian Beach Resort. While waiting for our food I wandered around for a while and had excellent views of Brown-headed Thrush and Philippine Hanging Parrot. On the way back we enjoyed the spectacular sights of far northern Luzon, including the Patapat Viaduct, the famous windmills of Ilocos Norte, and just the general windswept beauty of it all.

Brown-headed Thrush is an extremely thrush-y thrush

Philippine Hanging Parrot

The beach of Pannzian Beach Resort with the viaduct in the background

The Patapat Viaduct

The Ilocos Norte windfarms

That wasn't the end of our trip of course; we had more time in Laoag and then the drive north back to Manila, but that will have to wait for the next post since this one is way too long already.